Tales from the life of Lauren

Weekend Things

I got a facial on Saturday afternoon and my gal asked me how my summer was and it was right at that moment that I realized just how awesomely perfect this summer has been. Last summer was the first in our house and, don’t get me wrong, we still had a ton of fun but we were also juggling a lot of wedding tasks and activities so we didn’t exactly have the time to fully experience summer in Denver. This year, however, I feel like we have lived each summer second to the fullest and really taken advantage of all the fun things this time of year has to offer. It’s been pure bliss!

On Friday, Joey and I rode our bikes over to Colt & Gray to use our Denver Passport on… TIKI DRINKS!!!!!! To say I had been looking forward to this all summer would be a huge understatement. I’ve basically been obsessing over that tiki face glass for months. I think my face in the above picture basically says it all, but please know that A) Those drinks were STRONG and B) They were so worth all the anticipation.

Six-miler on a Saturday morning. It was something like 97° that day so it was already hot at 7:30 AM when we set out but we ran along the Cherry Creek River like the cool urban dwellers that we are so the majority of the run was shaded and cool. That last mile and a half, though? All sun and all uphill. I was getting so run-bitchy and actually thought I was going to die at the end there. Which is mildly alarming, considering six miles is, in fact, not even half the distance of a half marathon. Not gonna think about that right now.

Restocked ourselves on coffee afterwards. I’m trying to do this thing where I only have coffee every other day or so and it’s kind of torturous. I now do weird things like wake up on Monday morning thinking, “I can’t wait to have coffee tomorrow.” But for real, how good does honey, cinnamon and soft pear sound?? I’m not even sure what tamarind is but I’m sure it’s going to be delicious.

So aforementioned facial happened that afternoon, but before that, I delivered some cute lil fudgesicles to my parents’ and as I was unpacking them from the cooler (yeah, I did that!), I realized “OH MY GOD, THESE ARE TOTALLY VEGAN!” And then I felt really cool and impressed with myself because vegan things make me feel virtuous. And also because my dad and sister are dairy-free and that meant they could enjoy these as well.

We spent Saturday night here ^^^!!! And “here” would be a park in the middle of downtown Denver, where they show free movies in the summer. And where we had yet to check out because… I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHY. This was the last show of the summer so basically we had to go. Plus they were showing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and it wasn’t until after I had spent the entire day quoting it that I realized it’s probably my favorite movie.

We packed up our folding chairs and picnic basket and headed out for the movie. Short side note: We are getting really good at picnic-ing this summer and that makes my heart happy. I was pretty sure you guys needed to see a picture of the bean, double cheese (cheddar and goat!) and avocado burritos we made. Turns out this particular movie in the park in kind of a mecca for homeless people with BAD B.O., but all sudden whiffs of armpit aside, this was seriously so fun. And that movie!!!! Gah, so good. I’ve done A LOT of thinking about it and decided that part where Ferris rescues Cameron out of the pool and he says “Ferris Bueller, you’re my hero” is my favorite part of the whole thing.

Dang, I was trying to choose a filter that hid the dirt on our patio table but now that I’m seeing this blown up, I realize it didn’t exactly work. Oh well. Sunday morning was all lazy and perfect and Joey had pancakes with a side of toast and didn’t understand why I thought that was weird. I also sat in our porch swing reading for a while because someone was dumb and bought this month’s book club kinda late and is now in a hurry to finish it before our meeting.

We spent the afternoon at the Museum of Contemporary Art! They have a rooftop café with a full bar so we decided to hit up the current exhibit then grab lunch and our Passport drink. Neither of us had even been to the MCA so we didn’t know what to expect at all. Turns out it’s relatively small (as far as museums usually go), so getting through the whole exhibit in an afternoon is entirely manageable. Plus it wasn’t busy at all and we thought the art was really cool. It was all about “Now” so it was very relevant and relatable.

I feel like the rooftop patio is a hidden secret! It’s got an amazing view, you can walk around the entire thing and they play hip music up there. What more could you ask for? Also, except for a few other people on the other side, we had the whole thing to ourselves. The café doesn’t have a full on kitchen so the menu is full of easy-to-put-together stuff and yet, it was better than some stuff I’ve had in a real restaurant. Joey’s Greek Pizza with pita crust and HUMMUS-TOSSED GREENS won the Best Lunch award though. That thing was real good.

Since we were already downtown, we decided to walk a few blocks up to The Squeaky Bean for one more Passport drink. This one was fizzy and lemony and delicious. After all that (plus an impromptu couch nap once we got back home), we watched the finale of Food Network Star — I’m pretty sad Jay didn’t win because he was pretty much on fire all season and I personally think his Cajun food point of view is something I’d love to see on FN — and Big Brother, cooked up a kale salad dinner and called it a night.